Off to China with bags full of ambition

The Barça basketball team has packed their bags to travel to China this Thursday. A long flight, with a stopover in Doha, will take the team to Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province. The team will land in the Chinese city this Friday to play two preparation games at the Qianjiang Century City International Basketball Summit 2024 against the Beijing Ducks and Bàsquet Girona. “We are very excited to start a new season,” said team captain Alex Abrines.

The host team, Zhejiang Lions, will also participate in the tournament, and the games will be played at the Hangzhou Olympic Center. Barça's first opponent will be the local team, the Beijing Ducks (Sunday, September 1, at 1,30pm CEST), champions of the main Chinese league, the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association). The second opponent will be the Catalan team Bàsquet Girona (Monday, September 2, at 1.pm CEST).

During the six days in Hangzhou, besides training and games, a series of promotional events are also planned. This is the second time that Barça has done a preseason tour in the Asian country to expand the Barça and Catalonia brands, raise the exposure of European basketball, and strengthen ties with the Chinese game.

On the previous occasion, in 2014, a decade ago, the team visited the cities of Hangzhou and Taipei. Abrines was part of that trip and now returns to Hangzhou. "It's a very big city. We are in preseason; we'll try to enjoy the experience and make progress" he says. He views it as "an experience" to build the team. "We’ve been training for a week, and it’s still very early, but in these two games, we’ll see where we stand. We need to keep improving day by day."

In statements to the media, Justin Anderson also spoke positively about this trip: “Every challenge is good for us. Being together is good for the team; we’ll create memories, and I’m sure we’ll be ready to play. Right now, we’re only training amongst ourselves, so playing against other players will be good for us.” The new signing expressed his happiness: “It’s my sixth day in Barcelona, and the team already feels like my family. My teammates are making me feel part of the family, and the coaching staff is preparing me for a great season.” “Barça is the pinnacle, and I’ve worked hard to get here.”

Vesely travels but will not play

The team held a training session this Thursday at the Palau Blaugrana before having lunch and heading to the airport. All 14 first-team players are part of the expedition, including Jan Vesely. The centre got appendicitis this summer and started the preseason undergoing a recovery process with an individualized training plan. Therefore, he will travel to China with the rest of the team but will not play in the two games.